The ACEC-CA 2013 Annual Conference was held in beautiful Monterey April 7th through 10th. Your Sierra Chapter members in attendance included Tom Holdrege, Paul Enneking, Steve Greenfield, Ted Hopkins, Tom Blackburn, Eddie Kho, and myself. An excellent showing for the State’s 2012 Silver Chapter award winner!

The conference location was the Clement Monterey Hotel in historic Cannery Row and practically next door to the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. Things kicked off with a lively Board Meeting on Monday afternoon as we discussed a host of association issues focused on strategic planning, increased communication efforts, and advocacy. That evening we all gathered at “A Taste of Monterey” for wine and hors d’oeuvres overlooking Monterey Bay, as the waves crashed below us (literally!).

Tuesday kicked off with sessions covering a wide variety of topics from Global Leadership to Ownership Transition. Steve Bein also did a great session on the E-Office that covered the wide spectrum of electronic gadgets that fill our daily lives. The featured lunch speaker was Larry Bird the oceanographer / mechanical engineer (not the basketball player). Larry works for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and did an excellent presentation (lots of pictures and video) on his work in the submarine canyons off the Monterey Coast. The afternoon sessions covered Large and Small Firm roundtables as well as the Infrastructure Delivery Council (IDC) Meeting. Tuesday evening featured a Night at the Aquarium with dinner and a private tour of the facilities.

Wednesday featured a Design-Build Panel on industry lessons learned and an excellent 2013 Economic Outlook by Dr. Esmael Adibi of Chapman University. All in all an outstanding conference for all those who attended.

Our speaker for May is Mr. Rick Land, Chief Deputy Director for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). 

As Chief Deputy Director, he oversees the internal operations of the department.  Prior to this appointment, Mr. Land served as the Chief Engineer and Deputy Director for Project Delivery from 2005 through May 2011 and as the Department’s State Bridge Engineer from 2001 through 2004.  The majority of his career with the Department has been focused on the delivery of transportation improvement projects, from inception to construction completion.  A licensed civil engineer, Mr. Land has been with Caltrans for 34 years.

He will be discussing current areas of focus within Caltrans, on-going issues regarding transportation funding, and Caltrans support for High-Speed Rail.

Every company can benefit from a well thought out strategic plan. In representing all of our member firms, ACEC functions like a company and hence could also benefit from an updated plan focused on strategies which help the engineering and surveying member firms. Thus, I’m pleased to announce that the State Board voted this past month to embark on preparing a statewide ACEC strategic plan under the leadership of incoming President Bill Wagner.

At the crux of the strategic planning process will be developing policy platforms that focus on core issues such as infrastructure funding for transportation, water, and redevelopment. These platforms will inform decisions regarding legislative and advocacy efforts for the ACEC-CA Board of Directors, State committees, and ultimately the Sierra Chapter Board.

Another component will be an escalation in Public Relations efforts to increase public exposure to ACEC-CA. The general public really does not understand what engineers and surveyors do and how our work impacts their daily life. Promoting ACEC-CA as the “Engineer Party” or the “Surveyor Party” will allow the organization to form coalitions, raise public awareness of the professions, and do what we do best . . . design and build stuff!

An organization needs to stay nimble with changing times. The strategic plan will be slated for updates regularly every two to four years to ensure that our mission and message are still fresh and on target.

I am excited to see the outcome of the planning process, and our chapter’s State Directors will provide the chapter updates as they become available. If you have any immediate input, please don’t hesitate to contact me so I can share it with the Board of Directors and Executive Committee.

My tenure as your Chapter Board President is winding down. Planning for our Summer Social is in full swing where I’ll be shuttled out to the pasture. The social will be a fun filled evening at a local winery, details are on Page 3. I hope to see you there!